Bahrain MP sees military action against Qatar

Manama : MP Jamal Buhassan yesterday hinted that the Qatari regime will be overthrown through military action.

Buhassan said in a televised interview with Al Arabia that “military action will be the solution to the Qatari crisis”.

He said that the military action “could happen from within the state in the form of a military coup” to change the deteriorated conditions inside Qatar.

“The military move could also come from foreign intervention from the countries supporting Qatar such as Iran or Turkey to change the regime there,” Buhassan said.

The MP, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee in the House of Representatives, has pledged a few months back to initiate legal procedures against the Qatari authorities for supporting terrorism in Bahrain. He demanded financial compensation to the people of Bahrain who he claimed: “Suffered from the Qatari terrorism-supporting policies”.

Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah said during a meeting with US President Donald Trump last month that Kuwait intervened in the crisis and excluded any military options as a solution to the issue.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain severed relations with Qatar on 5 June. They also gave Qatari citizens 14 days to leave their territory and banned their own citizens from travelling to or residing in Qatar. Egypt also cut diplomatic ties but did not impose restrictions on its 180,000 citizens living in Qatar. Yemen, the Maldives and Libya’s eastern-based government later followed suit. In addition, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt closed their airspace to Qatari aircraft and said foreign airlines would have to seek permission for overflights to and from Qatar.

On 18 July, diplomats from the four nations said they wanted it to commit to six broad “principles”.

They were combating terrorism and extremism, denying financing and safe havens to terrorist groups, stopping incitement to hatred and violence, and refraining from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. (with inputs from agencies)